Page 13 of Timeless

“You want her to tell Jax about Jack, don’t you?” I read his expression. I read between the lines.

“Yeah, I do. The sooner he knows, the sooner Amber will stop holding on to him.” Will sounded frustrated. “I love Jack; I love Amber. But if she doesn’t let go of Jax, I’ll never have a future with her.”

So, Amber was still hung up on Jax. “How do you know she hasn’t moved on? She’s got a son now. This house. You. A new life. A career. It seems to me my little sister has moved on.”

“She won’t get his name covered.”

Oh.

In that case, no, she hadn’t moved on.

“Plus, Jack is the spitting image of his dad,” Will added.

“You know Jax?”

“Made it my mission to go up against his bail hearing a few years back,” Will said matter-of-factly, unashamed he had made sure Jax did his full sentence. Actually, Jax had done longer than his full sentence. Because he had bashed up that guard who took Amber from him.

He was due out soon. So, us boys had to get a story together to tell him before he started looking for Amber himself.

Which I knew he was going to do regardless of what we said.

I nodded. “Well, we won’t leave until we know she is safe.”

“Good. If anything happens, just call the police they know the case,” Will said and walked down the porch steps and then stopped in the rain, turning back to look at me. “By the way, you have some unpaid speeding fines. The police are counting down the days until they can put out a warrant for your arrest. I’d pay the fines, if I was you.”

That I wasn’t expecting. I knew I had fines. But I just ignored them. “Thanks.”

“No worries. Look after Amber.” He waved and then walked to the taxi.

How had Amber managed to get herself in to trouble? Normally, she brought the trouble on herself but this time, she seemed to be dragged in to it. What was with men wanting to bring my little sister into their mess?

I knew Jax was still beating himself up about what he did to her. He regretted it as soon as she turned the tables and was the one who cut him off from her life. And she had done just that, cut him out completely.

Will might think Amber was still holding on to Jax but I knew my sister. She walked from Jax and her old life.

I glanced at the front door. She was a mother. Jax was searching for the old Amber. The one who pulled a gun as easy as breathing. We had all been searching for the old Amber, expecting her to be doing what she had always done, causing trouble.

But she hadn’t been. We were all so wrong. While we were searching for her in the criminal world, she was out in the real world, being an upstanding member of it with a son.

I had a nephew.

I knew I would never have kids. I would never settle down.

Just as I was about to head back inside, I caught sight of a woman standing in front of Amber’s house. The rain was pouring down. She would be freezing.

Why did I feel the need to go to her? Before I knew what I was doing, I was walking past our bikes to the woman, who was standing on the pavement next to Amber’s mailbox.

I was basically standing in front of her but her eyes were glued on the house.

“You lost?” I said. I didn’t know the area, couldn’t really give her directions if I wanted to. But Amber could.

“She’s going to tell me I’m stupid,” she said, her emerald eyes still locked on the house. “God, I am stupid!”

I looked at her a bit closer. Her emerald eyes that I had been admiring were bloodshot. Tears streaked her cheeks, and I knew they were tears and not raindrops as I watched another tear drop from her eyes.

I then took in her bleeding lips, red cheeks, and swelling jaw.

“Do you want to come inside?” I didn’t know if I had a right to invite a stranger into Amber’s house but I found myself doing it anyway.

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